Basenji
Basenji was a competitor from New York which competed in Season 2 of Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors and Nickelodeon Robot Wars. It reached the second round of both the Season 2 US Championship and the Nickelodeon Annihilator before being eliminated. Team Chippermonkey also competed in Nickelodeon Robot Wars with the loanerbots Rigby and Squirmin Vermin. Basenji was named after the breed of African hunting dog; in the team's first round intro John Carioti noted the dogs were the breed favored by Egyptian Pharaohs. Design Basenji was a basic box-shaped robot with four outside wheels, a front wedge and armed with two hole saws located at the back. It was painted dark grey and white in both of its appearances, with the head of the Egyptian god Anubis painted on the front wedge. While Basenji displayed good pushing power and agility throughout its appearances, its hole saws and wheels were vulnerable to being damaged or dislodged, which proved to be the robot's undoing during Extreme Warriors. Robot History Extreme Warriors Season 2 Basenji competed in Heat E of the US Championship, fighting Night Stalker and Rosie the Riveter 2 in the first round. It immediately drove towards Night Stalker, reversing into it and losing one of its hole saws as it and Rosie the Riveter 2 slammed Night Stalker into the Disc of Doom button. Basenji rammed into Night Stalker again, before Rosie the Riveter 2 pushed Night Stalker into an empty CPZ where Sir Killalot picked it up and lifted it as Basenji got underneath it again. Night Stalker was dragged back into the middle of the arena by Sir Killalot, before Basenji and Rosie the Riveter pushed it into the wall and Sir Killalot again. Night Stalker's batteries had become dislodged following these attacks, and dangled out of the robot's chassis as Sir Killalot picked it up again and carried it towards the Flame Pit once it was counted out. Night Stalker was eliminated after being dumped out of the arena by Sir Killalot, allowing Basenji to progress along with Rosie the Riveter 2. In the second round, Basenji was drawn against Darkness. Both robots began by charging into each other, with Basenji momentarily getting underneath Darkness and ramming it. Darkness responded by ramming Basenji twice, losing one of its saws in the process, but causing Basenji's axles to bend with each successive attack. Basenji attempted to push Darkness around again, but as it did so, both of its left-hand wheels fell off their axles simultaneously, immobilizing it instantly. Basenji was counted out by Refbot, before Dead Metal grabbed hold of it, pushed it around the arena, and cut into its back armor several times with his saw. 'Cease' was called, and Basenji was eliminated from the US Championship. Nickelodeon Driven by John Carioti's son, Andrew, Basenji competed in the Annihilator, alongside Hannibal, Bunny Attack, The Piecemaker and Techno Trousers. It performed strongly in the first round, immediately lunging at Bunny Attack and ramming it several times, at one point almost pushing it into a CPZ. As Bunny Attack and The Piecemaker attacked each other, Basenji slammed into Techno Trousers, before scooping The Piecemaker up with its wedge and pushing it into the Disc of Doom button. Basenji rode on top of Hannibal's side, before pushing Techno Trousers around the arena, which became immobilized and was counted out by Refbot. Techno Trousers was picked up by Sir Killalot and spun around before being placed on the Floor Flipper and thrown onto Bunny Attack, with Basenji surviving to the next round. In the second round, Basenji started more tentatively, staying out of the early action and pressing the pit release button as Bunny Attack pushed and hammered The Piecemaker around. It briefly nudged Bunny Attack before attacking Hannibal, spinning and constantly nudging Hannibal until it suddenly drove towards the pit and swerved itself in. This eliminated Basenji from the Nickelodeon Annihilator. Results |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 2 *Losses: 2 Series Record Outside Robot Wars Basenji was a converted version of the team's middleweight Chipper Monkey, which they entered into Battlebots Season 4.0 and from which the team got its name. In Season 4.0, Chipper Monkey lost in the first round to ZiggZagg on a judges' decision. After its appearances in the US and Nickelodeon Robot Wars, Basenji's hole saws were replaced with a lifting arm and it continued to fight in live competitions with moderate success. Basenji found its biggest success at the Robot Club & Grille, where it collected a win against the spinner of Tornado Mer in the final to win the RCG-212 event. Trivia *Basenji was referred to in an official programme souvenir as Anubis. Given the Anubis insignia on the robot's front wedge, this may have been its originally intended name, although the reason for the change is currently unknown. External links *The team's YouTube account Category:US Series competitors Category:Nickelodeon competitors Category:Robots from New York Category:Animal Based Robots Category:Invertible Robots Category:Robots with Drills Category:Robots which have driven into the Pit Category:US robots that competed in BattleBots Category:Robots with an equal amount of Wins and Losses Category:Articles in need of images Category:Robots based on canines Category:Robots with cameo appearances in Extreme 1